


Home Improvement

by CaptainCountdown



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Cohabitation, F/F, Fluff, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:54:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25038805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainCountdown/pseuds/CaptainCountdown
Summary: Hot on the heels of liberating Etheria and defeating Horde Prime, Adora and Catra return to Etheria hoping for some relaxation and a bit of privacy. Now it’s been nearly a month since they’ve been living together in a secluded cabin in the Whispering Woods.Life is good, but there’s always room for home improvement.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 263





	1. Weird Little Pies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just another day in the love shack... except Catra's cooking dinner for the first time tonight.

_**Weird Little Pies** _

"For the Honor of Grayskull!" 

Catra rounded the corner to the kitchen, walking in on Adora—or rather, She-Ra—plucking a large mixing bowl from the depths of a top shelf.

"Seriously?" Catra snickered. 

Adora turned around to face her, nearly dropping the bowl. "How long have you been standing there?"

Catra leaned against the doorframe, signature smirk playing on her lips. "Long enough to see you Honoring the power of Grayskull instead of using our stool.”

"I—" Adora started to blush. "Well, I couldn’t find it!" 

Both of their eyes darted across the kitchen towards a slat in the wall where the step stool could be seen plain as day. 

"Uh huh." Catra nodded, sauntering over to her. "And you say _I'm_ lazy."

Adora set the bowl on the counter and smiled. “Well you do spend most of the day napping, Catra."

"I'm—that's," she gestured to herself, "It's genetic. I'm genetically predisposed...to... to long naps."

Adora giggled, reaching out for her. 

They embraced up against the lip of the sink, pleased with how much easier it had become over the last couple of weeks to just... be themselves here. 

It wasn't their first time cohabiting, of course. They had lived together for years in the Fright Zone, occupied the rundown barracks in such close proximity that they’d had no choice but to develop an intimate knowledge of one another: Adora was allergic to dust, sang when she cleaned, and always got up to pee at least once in the middle of the night; Catra took forever to get ready, was prone to midnight snacking, and liked to sleep cuddling a pillow. 

There were no barracks now, though. No bunk beds with mattresses like wood or scratchy blankets full of holes big enough to swallow your fist. No community toilets or showers. No green hues—eerie and endless—glistening under every door.

Everything was so different now. Tranquility was all around them.

Their cabin was secluded in a seldom trafficked thicket of the Whispering Woods. It was hickory-colored, with a thick cobbled chimney and an overgrown garden that neither Adora nor Catra knew the first thing about tending to. It was quiet most hours of the day, and only fell prey to the crickets' lullabies after dark on balmy nights. Its layout was a little whimsical, but it was cozy, comfortable enough for two, and downright spacious during the hours they spent on top of each other, trying to meld themselves into one.

Their cabin was, above all its lovely haves and have nots, a gift.

Originally, Glimmer had tried to sell them on something much, much bigger—an entire annex of the Bright Moon castle for their own personal use. It was a gift of palatial proportion, and, naturally, Adora had declined, despite Catra’s insistence that it would be _so cool_ to have maids. 

The cabin was Bow’s sensible idea, and having been raised in the Woods himself, he’d known that they would have an abundance of privacy out here. He was especially pleased with the path that led to the cabin, which was not only difficult to follow if a traveller didn’t know exactly where they were going, but also lined with coarse, snapping brush that made it impossible for surprise visitors to sneak up on tenants... 

Not that the cabin's current occupants were giving the neighboring wildlife much cause to stop by anyway, because they were not only the latest to live there but also the loudest. Incontestably.

In the three weeks since Bow had first shown them the cabin, Adora and Catra had moved in and fallen right back into their familiar comforts: the quick fire banter, the spontaneous sparring, the little spats—now domestic in nature—about petty things that didn’t matter and could be solved with a kiss. (To be fair, they were equally to blame for the shocking amount of hair all over the bathroom—long golden strands and shorter, darker wisps too—but it should be stated that it was Catra, alone, who refused to sweep because the broom terrified her.)

There were newer things unfurling between them too, though. Things that belied everything Adora and Catra had been brought up to believe about the needless, completely avoidable dangers of intimacy: idle touches, tender looks from across the room, irrepressible urges acted out atop every surface with a sturdy enough base. So many lovely, unspeakable things that had, ultimately, Adora quickly realized, caused Bow and Glimmer to suggest that she and Catra spend some time alone together in the first place. 

Catra kissed Adora along her jawline, tail swishing happily.

"You smell like candy," she chuckled.

"I do?" Adora laughed nervously. "That's weird. I don't know why."

"Wait...” Catra was glaring at her. “Adora, were you eating candy?"

Adora whistled, ignoring the question. After all this time travelling the vast kingdoms of Etheria, she still couldn't turn down tasty treats; the astronomical variety had spoiled her and probably her back molars, too.

"Before dinner?" Catra whined. "I told you not to spoil your appetite!" 

"I know, I know!" Adora pouted, nudging the mixing bowl with her knuckles. “I have a problem, okay?"

Catra laughed.

"Yeah, your problem is that you're a dork." She leaned forward to kiss Adora's chin. "Look, if I'm gonna cook this stupid thing for you, then the least you could do is show a little restraint." 

Adora raised an eyebrow. "Look who's talking." 

Catra's ears flattened as a ruby blush broke across her cheeks. "Yeah, well, don't act like you don't like that."

Adora’s voice was sweet, but the smirk on her face was telling. "You know I do."

Catra’s blush intensified. 

"Out!" She turned Adora around and started to shoo her from of the kitchen. "I have stuff to do, weird little pies to make."

“Alright, alright.” Adora laughed, retreating backwards. “But let me know if you need anything from the top shelf... we both know you're vertically impaired." 

"Well, fortunately I have a stool!” Catra fired back, glancing up at the offensively high dishware that she would need in order to prepare dinner. 

Catra waited for Adora to clear the kitchen, then, scoffing, retrieved the stool from its nook.

"These princesses think everyone can fly, or stretch their limbs, or turn into an eight foot lady," she mumbled, setting the stool down before the counter and stepping onto it, “ _Catra, don't climb the counters. Catra, don't scratch the furniture._ Oh, but it's fine if you turn yourself into a giant just to reach for—"

"What?" Adora called from adjacent room.

"N-nothing!" Catra called back. "Let me focus!"

Dinner was good. 

Was it as good as anything Adora had ever eaten in Thaymor or Elberon? Maybe not, but the wait staff was much, much easier on the eyes. 

Adora watched as Catra licked her lips clean.

“What’re you staring at?” Catra speared a small berry on her plate with one of her claws and brought it to her mouth.

Adora gulped. “Nothing.”

“Tell me.” Catra smirked. 

"Nothing, you’re… You're a good cook, that’s all." Adora said, peeling her eyes from Catra's mouth to look down at her empty plate.

Adora had eaten everything except for a flaky, burnt corner of crust that Catra had assured her, repeatedly, she didn't have to eat if she didn't want to. 

Catra smiled shyly. "Thanks." 

"See?" Adora leaned forward, pleased. "You were worried for nothing!"

“Yeah, well…” Catra shrugged, “Perfuma’s recipe was pretty straight forward.”

What Catra didn’t tell Adora was that Perfuma's cookbook was also full of distracting little doodles... that she absolutely loved—especially the one of the cat wearing a flower crown. That was brilliant.

Catra looked down at her own plate now. There was a dollop of filling in the center of the dish from when she’d taken her first bite of the pie and the jelly inside—which she'd had to messily extract from a sweet-smelling, lilac-colored fruit—exploded out the back end of the crust.

She thought about licking the jelly right off of the plate, but decided to wait until Adora wasn’t looking.

After years of eating ration bars—brown ones, gray ones, expired brown ones that had turned gray, and expired gray ones that had turned brown—Catra was awe-stricken by the various colors and consistencies of foods found across Etheria; she was beginning to understand her girlfriend's preoccupation with everything edible around these parts. 

"I'm stuffed!" Adora sat back and unbuttoned her pants, prompting Catra to laugh. 

"What?" 

"You," Catra shook her head, smitten, "I can't believe _you're_ the defender of the Etheria." 

"Yeah, me neither." Adora laughed, always so good-natured, even when Catra was ribbing her. "Who's in charge of that stuff, anyway?"

Catra shrugged. "I don't know, but I guess it's a good thing they didn't pick someone like Kyle or something." 

"Hey." Adora made a face. The face she always made before gently chiding Catra about a questionable behavior or choice of words. "Come on, be nice. He helped us move in.” 

And Kyle had helped them move in, but then, so had everyone else, really. 

Their first couple of days in the cabin were one big blur of princesses flying in and out with gadgets and decorative plants; ex-Horde friends lugging in and assembling furniture; Bow and Glimmer stuffing their kitchen with ready-made food because they knew that neither Adora nor Catra had learned how to cook in between going from best friends to archenemies to lovers who would eventually team up to help save the universe. 

Even Bow’s dads had been by to drop off a small bookshelf and a few armfuls of books for it. 

"Adora, he broke three lamps." Catra pointed to an unpacked chest that Kyle had tried to stash the damaged lamp shades in. “Sea Hawk was more helpful.” She rolled her eyes, thinking about the untouched karaoke machine that the flamboyant sailor had spent two hours setting up.

"Well you're the one who didn't want Bright Moon guards moving us in." 

Catra's wrapped her tail protectively around her shoulders. "I don't trust them..." She forced herself to smile. "Yet. I don't trust them _yet_ , okay? I'm still getting used to the whole ‘not all armies are full of mindless, zombie clones’ thing."

“And that’s okay.” Adora offered her a gentle smile before taking a sip of her celestial wine.

It was, according to Bow, a beverage practically impossible to get drunk on unless you downed the entire jug yourself. Adora could attest to that; she didn't feel tipsy at all... or very hydrated for that matter. 

"You'll come around." She smiled happily. "Bow and Glimmer came around to you, didn't they?"

Catra started to laugh, her canines barred amicably as she threw her head back. "Yeah, now I'll never get rid of them." 

"Like you'd want to." Adora leaned her elbows on the table to get a good look at her. "Don't think I don't know about you and Bow's secret handshake."

Catra's eyes widened. "Who told you about that? It’s not a handshake! It's an intricate series of steps to... to, you know, make sure we know neither of us is an imposter." 

"Riiiiiiiight." 

"Shapeshifters are a thing, Adora!" 

Catra continued to plead her case until Adora stood up and started collecting their plates. 

"What're you doing?"

"Um," Adora looked around, "The dishes?"

"Let me do it."

"You cooked."

"So?"

Adora chuckled. "So, Glimmer says if someone cooks for you, then you should clean the dishes. Well, unless you have servants, which we don't."

Smirking, Catra sat back in her chair slowly. "Did you ask Sparkles for advice about living with me?"

"I mean..." Adora struggled to balance the dishware as a faint blush crept across her cheeks. "I might've asked her how to keep the peace."

Catra scoffed. "Adora, we've already lived together."

"Yeah, but not like this." She tilted her head, bright eyes determined. "I want it to be nice." 

Nodding, Catra stood up from the small table. "How about you wash, I'll dry?"

“That’d be great.” Adora smiled, allowing Catra to step in front of her to get to the kitchen.

Then it dawned on her.

"Wait a minute." The plates clinked in Adora's arms as she pointed accusingly at Catra's back. "You asked Glimmer for advice, too!"


	2. Impressive Anatomies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After dinner, Adora and Catra share another blissful night in their cabin — but by morning, they realize just how much they've lost track of time.

_**Impressive Anatomies** _

They lay in bed, naked and spent. 

The quilt Netossa and Spinnerella had given them lay crumpled at the foot of the bed. The stitched image of Bright Moon in the quilt's center was folded over on itself, making the pastel kingdom impossible to make out.

As Catra stretched her exhausted limbs, she knocked the quilt off of the bed. 

“Hey,” Adora chided softly, crawling to the foot of the bed to pick it up. 

“Sorry,” Catra shrugged, smiling. She interlaced her fingers behind her head as she admired the view: Adora now bent over the edge of the bed reaching for the quilt, her blonde hair loosed from its ponytail and hanging over one side of her neck, her back and shoulder muscles flexing ever so slightly. 

When Adora turned back around and noticed Catra staring, she tossed the quilt at her. “Oh, real nice.”

“What?” Catra's grin was toothy as she _accidentally_ nudged the quilt off the side of the bed again, this time with her elbow. “Oops.”

Adora was climbing back up the bed now, poised to pounce.

“You should probably get—” Catra yelped as Adora lunged at her, determined to tickle her into submission.

“Okay! Okay!” Catra laughed, trying to wiggle free. “Adora, stop! Okay, I—” She wheezed with laughter as Adora’s fingers danced mercilessly up and down her sides. “Okay, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Adora straddled her, shaking her head. “Say it,” she kneaded Catra’s sides harder, “Say: I’m a perve.”

Catra refused. She shook her head defiantly, mouth frozen open as wave after wave of laughter spilled free. 

“Say it!” Adora was positively giddy as she pinned Catra to the mattress.

“Okay, I’m a perve!” Catra gasped. “I’m a perve! I’m a perve! I’m a perve!”

Adora rolled off of her, flopping onto her back with a satisfied thump.

Catra closed her eyes, still trying to catch her breath. As she regained her composure, she could feel Adora looking at her.

“What?” Catra asked without opening her eyes. 

“What?” 

“I can feel you looking at me.”

There was amusement in Adora’s voice now. “No you can’t.”

When Catra opened her eyes, there was Adora: rolled onto her side, propped up on her elbow, staring right at her. 

Catra chuckled. “Typical.”

“Oh, so only you get to stare?”

“Stare away.” She stretched her arms behind her head, happy to give Adora a better view.

The air in the bedroom was calm, easy, as they lay there. 

Soon, Catra was so relaxed that she had nearly fallen asleep, _would have fallen asleep_ , except that every now and then she could hear Adora beside her, sighing affectionately. 

This went on for minutes before Catra finally opened her eyes, grinning knowingly. "You know, you have them too, Adora." 

Adora giggled, reaching out to settle her hand flat over one of Catra’s boobs.

“Yeah, but that’s different.” Adora gave the boob a gentle squeeze. “Yours are so…”

Adora shook her head, opting for a private smile instead. 

Across the room, a welcome breeze slipped past their open window. Beyond the comfort of their cabin, wildlife's band was in full swing tonight, enlivening the Woods with whistling chirps and soft crooning. 

“They’re so what?” 

“Perfect.” Adora answered, with all the confidence and corniness she often declared anything sentimental. “They’re perfect.”

“Yeah, well...” Catra chuckled coolly to mask her blush, “Yours aren’t half bad either.” 

Adora withdrew her hand to smooth back the hairs matted to her temple, never tearing her eyes from Catra's body. 

Catra wrinkled her nose. “What?”

"How do you do that?" 

And really, how the hell _did_ Catra do that? Just lie there after they had finished, looking like… that. No sweat, no dishevelment, not a single hair out of place despite the sheer athleticism of everything that had just unfolded between them.

Catra hummed cockily. "Which part?" 

Adora nudged her with her toe. 

"Geez!" Catra moved away. "Clip those things, would you?"

“I’m serious, Catra." Adora’s eyes swept over the full length of Catras’s body, lingering on the tuft of hair that topped her mons. “How do you just look like this after we…”

"Have sex?" Catra teased, relishing any opportunity to scandalize her girlfriend.

"Yeah." Adora nodded, unfazed by the goading.

Catra shrugged, glancing down at the soft hairs below her navel. "I don't know, I just do."

Entranced, Adora gently traced her finger from the valley of Catra’s breasts, down to her bellybutton, past her waist until...

Catra inhaled sharply, "Oh, okay, again?" 

Adora ignored her, focused entirely on the slick warmth waiting for her between Catra’s thighs. She let her middle finger trace an already-memorized path over the nub that made Catra's back arch and her breath hitch. 

Catra closed her eyes and let the bliss wash over her. There were so many feelings compacted into this particular moment, powerful emotions that plunged her deep into the past and dragged her through to the present. All the years spent with Adora, and the time spent apart rivaling, only to reunite and end up here:

In their cabin. In each other's arms. In love. 

Catra grit her teeth. Suddenly, everything seemed somehow too much and not enough all at once. Her hips rose instinctively and she started to pant.

“Adora,” she groaned.

Adora leaned forward to kiss along her jawline, steadying her fingers at Catra’s entrance.

"Don't tease." Catra pleaded softly. 

Adora kissed her gently on the lips. "Open your eyes."

"What?" Catra kept her eyes shut tight. She was torn—desperate for contact but trying not to finish too fast. 

"Open your eyes, Catra,” Adora whispered against the shell of her ear. “Look at me.”

Just as Catra let her eyes flutter open, Adora sank two fingers deep inside, pushing confidently past a boundary that yielded only to her. 

It was pure, blinding ecstasy. And it was entirely too much.

Catra reached down to grab her wrist, tightening her grip until Adora stopped thrusting.

"What's wrong?" Adora's mouth hung open, concern in her voice. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, it feels really..." Catra gulped. "Just slow down a little, okay?"

Adora nodded, adjusting her pace until it was torturously slow.

Catra’s body tensed, again, as she fought not to lose control. Evidently, whatever way Adora decided to take her right now was going to be too much.

"Better?" Adora asked earnestly, her hand vanishing out of view. 

Catra could feel every ridge of Adora's fingers then, every tender brush of her deft fingertips. 

"Mhm." She lied, jerking uncontrollably. "So much better."

"Okay, okay." Adora groaned, rolling onto her stomach to prop herself up on her elbows. She bowed her head to kiss one of Catra's shoulders. "We need to get out of the cabin today."

"Why?" Catra stared at her, disappointed. 

"Because we need to see our friends." Adora smiled patiently. "They're gonna be worried if they don't hear from us soon."

"It's only been a few days." Catra protested, trying not to get swept up by how beautiful Adora looked bathing in the soft morning light. 

“It’s been a week, Catra.” Adora laughed, whipping her blonde hair. "Remember? Swifty said he'd be by in a week to check on us?"

Catra shrugged, "Yeah, so?"

Adora’s eyes bulged. "So you didn't hear him land on the roof this morning?" 

Catra pulled the covers up to her chest. "That roof?" 

The gaping skylight in the center of their bedroom was at odds with the style of the rest of the cabin, but brilliant on romantic, moonlit nights nonetheless. 

“I can’t believe you didn’t hear him.” Adora paused. “I thought we were under attack until I heard him singing.” 

It wasn't until Adora rolled onto her back a moment later that Catra noticed she’d since put on a sports bra and underwear, leaving her to fend, nudely, for herself. 

"Well thanks for the heads up," Catra grumbled, standing up and ripping the quit off of the bed with her.

Adora sat up, tickled. "He's a horse!"

“So?” Catra spun around, swathed in the quilt like a purple toga. "How would you like it if Melog saw you naked?"

"Uh..." Adora eyes flitted to the far corner of the room where Melog, hearing their name, had perked up. 

"Ah!" Catra sprang back. "How long have they been there?"

"I don't know." Adora shrugged guiltily. "What's the big deal?" 

"The big deal, Adora?" Catra was rifling through their wardrobe, sending various articles of clothing flying out behind her. "I was naked. Am naked. We left Bright Moon to get some privacy, or did you forget that already?" 

Melog bounded out of the room, turning back to shoot Adora an apologetic look.

" _Go._ " Adora mouthed to their ghostly companion. “ _It’s okay_.” 

Catra continued to fling clothes. 

"What're you doing?" Adora was sitting cross-legged in the center of the mattress now, watching her curiously. "You wear the same thing every day."

"Oh, and you don't?" Catra fired back, neither looking up nor dislodging her arm from the second drawer she’d just opened.

Adora hobbled off the bed, skipping towards Catra and wrapping her arms around her from behind. "You are so grumpy in the morning."

Immobilized by her girlfriend's strength... and, okay, yes, the hypnotizing scent of her skin and hair, Catra stood there fighting off a smile. 

"Well I'd be a lot nicer if I could be naked in peace.” She wrestled herself free from Adora's grip to spin around and face her. "With you, preferably."

"Fine." Adora kissed her softly. "I'll tell Swifty, Melog, and Entrapta that if they want to come over—"

"Wait, what? Entrapta?" 

"Yeah... well, she wanted to make sure the security system worked, so she came over last week, and you were napping, and we had just...you know, so you were still naked, and—"

"Entrapta has seen me naked?!" Catra screamed, horrified, her tail frizzing. 

Adora laughed nervously. "If it helps, she was very impressed with your anatomy..."

"It doesn't!" Catra hissed.

Glimmer was waiting for them on the castle landing, looking even more regal than the last time Adora and Catra had seen her. 

Two statuesque guards in half-helmets were stationed behind her, charged with accompanying the Queen whenever she greeted guests, even ones as beloved by the kingdom as She-ra.

"Finally!" Glimmer pounced on Adora, squeezing her with surprising strength. "I was beginning to think we'd never see you again!" 

"One can only hope..." Catra muttered. 

Glimmer stepped back from Adora to greet Catra with a similar embrace, ignoring her frantic wiggling. 

"And you," Glimmer tightened her vice grip around Catra's squirming body, "Don't think I didn't miss you, too!" 

Bow stepped in to welcome them next, pulling Catra into a bear hug before the two of them could turn their backs and complete what was most certainly not a secret handshake that made both of them giggle like children. 

After snatching Adora into a quick-but-enthusiastic hug, Bow leapt away to reach into his quiver, unable to wait until everyone got inside to show off his latest invention: the laser arrow.

"So it shoots out lasers?" Adora admired the colorful arrow warily, unwilling to accidentally set it off.

"Not exactly," he secured the gleaming arrow into his bow and fired it into the air. 

It soared upwards into the sky looking... like a regular arrow.

"Uh..." Catra's eyes followed the unremarkable display.

"Wait for it." Bow warned.

Adora squinted into the sky. "Is it supposed to—" 

"Wait for it." Bow warned again, interrupting Adora in a sing-songy voice.

"Bow, would you just—" Glimmer started, but was silenced by a sudden explosion of multicolored lasers that cast everything in fantastic neon light. 

"Boom! Lasers!" Bow cheered as the arrow did a nosedive into the shimmering water beneath the castle. "Ooh,” he peered down into the clear depths where his arrow could still be seen shining. "Haven't exactly figured out how to turn it off yet." 

“Alright,” Glimmer started to corral everyone, "Let's get inside before Bow kills any more fish." 

Glimmer took Bow by the hand, leading him towards the towering double doors, checking that Catra and Adora were close behind. 

"Hey, that arrow is made of all-natural, Etherian materials!" Bow craned his neck to look back at Catra and Adora. He beamed excitedly at them. "If anything, the fish are having a party right now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally, I think Entrapta's probably seen lots of people naked. Most of them on accident.


	3. Flying, Driving, Steering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora and Catra spend the day with Bow and Glimmer, resulting in a reevaluation of their living situation.

**_Flying, Driving, Steering_ **

“Flying! Driving!” Glimmer pointed wildly at Adora, prompting her to shake her head. “No, no, wait. Steering, you’re steering something!”

Adora nodded, giddy. She held her arms out then, pretending to balance on something beneath her.

“Okay, you’re steering a...surfing… you’re steering a surfboard, you’re…” Glimmer jumped up now, focused on Adora’s movements. “A skiff! You’re steering a skiff!”

“Yes!” Adora screamed excitedly. 

Glimmer screamed back as they high-fived one another with a thundering clap. Then, wearing identical smirks, they rounded on Catra and Bow.

“Please, you guys, I can’t handle any more of your lame trash talk.” Catra stood up from one of the plush pallets in the castle’s lounge. She stuck her hand out, helping Bow up to his feet. 

“Might be lame, but it’s true.” Glimmer chimed in, doing a little shimmy. “We’re killing you guys.”

Catra scoffed. “Yeah, because you and Adora won’t let us switch teams or play anything else!”

Bow plucked a luminescent stick of chalk from behind his ear and marked yet another tally under _Princess Party._ It was well after midnight, and the scoreboard was overrun with chicken scratch and tally marks, only a few of which were drawn under _Fang & Arrow _.

“Seriously,” Bow rolled his neck, “What round is this? I didn’t even know you could play charades for this long.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Adora wagged her finger in Bow’s face, “I think you mean _Sherades_.”

Now everyone, Glimmer included, let out a long sigh.

“You’re the only person that calls it that, Adora.” Catra laughed, reaching for one of the dessert pastries lain in the center of a crescent-shaped table. She deliberately avoided taking the last star strudel, which she’d seen Bow eyeing, but known he was far too hospitable to take for himself. 

Earlier that night, when a Bright Moon servant passed by the lounge, the young attendant had been surprised to see them all awake and promptly offered to whip something up for them. Neither Adora nor Glimmer were hungry, but Catra was starving. Of course, she’d also been too shy to ask for anything. So, when Bow and his unabashed sweet tooth seized the opportunity to politely ask for something sugary, Catra had mentally decided that she owed him.

Overcome by a yawn, Adora waved off Catra’s remark.

“Tired, princess?” Catra teased.

Adora smiled sleepily. “Yeah, tired of whooping your butt all night.”

They’d hung out at the castle much longer than intended, falling naturally into new games and conversations, until their day trip had turned into an overnighter. 

After letting Glimmer wipe at a smudge of icing on his cheek, Bow stretched his arms overhead. “Alright guys, I’m tapping out. I thought some sugar would help,” he gestured to the platter of treats, “but I’m pooped.”

“Same here.” Glimmer nodded, looping her arm around Bow’s. She smiled sweetly up at him. 

Adora started to pout. “We were just finding our groove, though.”

“Adora…” Catra gestured to the scoreboard. “You found your groove like three hours ago.”

The whole night hadn’t been charades, though. There’d been so much talking and catching each other up about life in the Woods versus life in the castle. The last week had been a crazy one for everybody, it seemed.

While Adora and Catra were busy having sex and hanging their curtains crookedly, Glimmer was appointing her father the new general of the Bright Moon army, mostly as a technicality, but also in an effort to make him feel useful now that he was back in Etheria but struggling with the readjustment. Micah was, according to Glimmer, splitting his time between Bright Moon and Mystacor, spending plenty of time with his Castaspella. And in a rather interesting parallel, Glimmer had been spending quite a bit of time with Frosta, who’d become something of a little sister to her, as well.

Bow had been inventing nonstop, with lots of help from Entrapta, who delighted in teaching him how to fuse materials and program tech. Perfuma, they also found out, had finally mustered up the courage to ask Scorpia out — and now everyone was waiting with bated breath to hear how their date would go next weekend. Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio were living together in Thaymor, which had become a popular haunt for ex-Horde members given the village’s come-as-you-are mentality.

Sea Hawk and Mermista were at sea, celebrating their engagement, which Mermista couldn’t even pretend to be in denial about because she was _obsessed_ with the aquamarine pendant that Sea Hawk had proposed with. Supposedly he’d won the necklace in a fleet race against an infamous pirate, but as the night went on, Bow confessed—swearing the girls to secrecy—that he had gone with Sea Hawk to the jewelers and helped him pick it out. 

By all counts, lives were being lived. Everyone was happy. 

Still, as Adora had sat there listening to Bow and Glimmer laugh about everything that’d transpired in the week since they’d all last seen each other, a part of her ached to have known those things already. She didn’t like that she wouldn’t be around to help Perfuma pick out a dress for her date, or help Bow perfect his laser arrow, or help Glimmer’s dad feel like he actually belonged in a castle where his mural had been admired by all. 

She relished her privacy with Catra, but it certainly hadn’t come free.

  
  
  


They traversed the familiar hallways in pairs: Adora and Glimmer up front, Bow and Catra hanging a several feet back. 

The escort to Adora’s old room was completely unnecessary—it’s not like Adora had forgotten her way around in the castle in just one month—but Glimmer and Bow were persistent. Bow had assured them that it was “proper etiquette” to see one’s guests off to bed, while Glimmer’s argument was a much simpler one: _It’s my castle and I’m walking you!_

“My dad wanted to turn it into a yoga room, can you believe that?” Glimmer chuckled. “I was like, ‘dad, there are literally a hundred rooms in this place, why do you need Adora’s?’”

Adora smiled. It was funny to think about a king doing yoga in the room that her, Glimmer, and Bow used to have sugar-fueled sleepovers in. “It’s okay if he wants to change it, Glimmer. There are plenty of rooms for us to stay in.”

“No, it’s not okay.” Glimmer shook her head. “Even if you never come back for good, I… I always want you to have a place here, Adora. Something that’s just yours.”

Adora nodded. There was a lump in her throat now as she tried to swallow. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” She ran her finger along the side of the wall as they walked, appreciating the murals all around them. “I miss it here.”

“You do?” Glimmer asked hopefully. “I thought… after you didn’t call or anything last week, you didn’t really want to visit us.”

Adora put her hand on Glimmer’s shoulder reassuringly. “I’m really sorry about that, Glimmer. It’s easy to get wrapped up out there.” She looked over her shoulder then, heart leaping as Catra’s eyes met her own and she smiled. 

“I get that, and obviously we want you guys to have your alone time, or why else would we have suggested it, you know?”

Adora nodded, forever calmed by Glimmer’s sympathetic openness. “You’re a good friend.”

“You are, too.” Glimmer beamed up at her. “And you’re pretty much unstoppable at charades.”

“That’s because it’s…” Adora nudged her.

“No.” Glimmer deadpanned.

“Say it,” Adora smiled.

“I’m not calling it that, Adora.”

“Come on.” Adora stuck her bottom lip out. “Just for me.”

Glimmer sighed, defeated.

Adora beamed. “So the reason I’m so good at it is because it’s…”

“ _Sherades._ ” Glimmer mumbled.

Triumphant, Adora opened her mouth to milk it a little longer, but was interrupted by a chorus of loud laughter behind them. Adora and Glimmer’s heads swiveled in unison. 

Caught, Catra and Bow straightened up, waving guiltily at them. 

"What's up with those two?" Adora chuckled.

“Who knows?” Glimmer lowered her voice, "Don't tell Bow I told you, but he would not shut up about seeing her this weekend. _Catra this, Catra that._ " She rolled her eyes playfully. “Any other girl would’ve been jealous, but you know Bow. He’s just so cute when he gets excited like that.” 

Adora smiled. "Things are good with you two, huh?"

Glimmer nodded. "I thought it would be weirder, and—don't get me wrong—some stuff _is_ weird, but mostly everything's the same between us. Well, except..." She started to blush.

"Glimmer!" Adora whisper-squealed. "What happened?"

"Shhh!" Glimmer checked nervously over her shoulder. "Nothing. Yet. But we're sleeping together now, in the same bed I mean, not... you know, like that. He’s a really good cuddler."

Adora's face hurt, she was grinning so hard. "That doesn't surprise me at all." 

“What about you two?” Glimmer asked.

Instantly, Adora was seized by a montage of her and Catra’s antics over the past week: Catra pinning her up against their bedroom door, bending her over their stove, stapling her hands above her head as she kissed down her neck, pouncing on her after they’d just skinny dipped in the nearby lake. 

“Things are…” Adora’s face felt like it was on fire. “Good. Great.” 

“Oh,” Glimmer smirked, “So _that’s_ why you couldn’t call this week?” 

“I—” Adora looked away. “Well you’re the one who can teleport.”

“Yeah, I’m just gonna teleport to your house in the middle of you guys doing it!” Glimmer whispered back.

Behind them, Catra cleared her throat.

Adora and Glimmer cast another backwards glance before laughing uncontrollably.

Catra crossed her arms, glaring on as Adora and Glimmer burst into a fit of giggles. 

“She knows I can hear them.” Catra muttered.

“What?” Bow turned to her, “You can? What’re they saying?” His eyes went wide with curiosity. “No, wait, don’t tell me. I don’t wanna know.” He bit his lip. “No, I do, I wanna know. Tell me.”

"They're saying..." Catra knew the truth would only embarrass both of them. "That your arrow's gonna be a hit at the next Princess Prom."

Bow's jaw went slack. "Really?" 

Catra smiled, concealing her mischief behind a serious head nod. "Yeah, actually Glimmer's saying she wishes you'd show her more of your inventions. _All_ of your inventions, actually. Even the ones that're kinda scary. Especially those."

“That’s great!” He slung his muscular arm around Catra’s shoulders. “Man, this is such a good night. I wish you guys still lived here."

  
  
  


Catra had one hand covering Adora's mouth, the other thrusting with steady rhythm between her smooth, shaking thighs. 

"Shhh,” Catra warned with a smirk. “You’re gonna wake the whole castle up.” 

They’d never been outright caught by anyone before moving out, but they’d come damn close. More than once.

Even still, Adora's muffled moans didn't let up. They quickened, the intervals between each pleasured sound growing shorter and shorter until she was arching off of the bed, jerking her hips against Catra's hand. 

It was delicious, exhilarating irony that Adora orgasmed with the softest of whimpers a few seconds later. The surprisingly soft noise made Catra’s core ache as she looked down at the heaving body beneath hers. Adora had only recently gotten comfortable with touching herself while Catra fucked her, and the sight of her girlfriend’s fingers lazily circling her clit as she rode out the last of her orgasm made Catra’s entire body tense.

She pulled out of Adora slowly, melting a little when Adora groaned at the emptiness.

Catra looked into her eyes, finding only a residual trace of the shyness that once existed there whenever they were naked together. "I’m gonna move my hand now, okay?"

Adora's eyelids were heavy as she nodded her head. 

“Mhm,” she mumbled into Catra’s palm.

Catra replaced her hand with her mouth, kissing Adora until the ache between her legs morphed into a persistent throbbing. She straddled Adora’s thigh for relief.

“Oh, wow.” Adora breathed out, feeling the heat and slickness emanating from Catra’s center. 

Catra buried her face in the crook of Adora’s neck. “Yeah. Wow.”

Adora tucked her chin so that her lips were closer to Catra’s ear. “You really need it, huh?” She whispered, bending her leg to apply pressure where Catra wanted it most.

Too overcome to speak, Catra nodded slowly.

“Do you want my fingers or my mouth?” Adora murmured, reaching down to palm Catra’s ass.

That—the dirty talk—that was a recent Adora development, too. 

“Anything. Both.” Catra bit Adora’s neck roughly. 

Catra could hear the smile in Adora’s voice when she said, “Tell me exactly what you want, or you’re not getting it.”

Catra pulled back to sit upright, still perched on Adora’s thigh. She cocked an eyebrow, looking down at her. “Power makes you mean.”

Adora’s face took on that familiar, worried affect. “Oh, no, of course you can have—”

“Shhh,” Catra hushed her, starting to roll her hips in a languid grind against Adora’s bare thigh. “I never said I didn’t like it.”

Entranced, Adora watched Catra’s abs contract as she rocked forward then back. She reached out for her, gripping Catra’s hips firmly to still her. “Tell me what you want.”

Catra raked her claws up and down Adora’s forearms.

She brought one hand up to Adora’s face to stroke her cheek gently, then flipped her hand to graze her knuckles along her girlfriend’s defined jawline. She rested her thumb on Adora’s bottom lip. 

“I want to sit right here.” Catra slid her thumb back and forth along the pouty pink flesh, fixated on the warmth of Adora’s mouth. “On your face.”

  
  
  


“Why have we never done that before?” Adora asked groggily, pulling Catra tighter into her side. “That was—that was so good.” 

Catra nestled into her, the heat and scent of Adora’s skin her favorite comfort as of late. "Yeah, it was." She smiled, feeling Adora start to play with her hair.

After a moment of blissful silence, Adora cleared her throat.

"Hey, Catra?" 

Her ears perked up, but she remained nuzzled against Adora’s chest. "Yeah?"

"You know… I really like it here." Adora wanted to look around at her old room then, admire the handful of things she’d left behind in hopes that she would return to them for good, but she didn’t want to disturb how perfectly she and Catra were melded together right that moment.

"I know." Catra nodded. "I do, too."

Adora stopped stroking her head. "You do?"

Catra sighed, knowing exactly where this conversation was going. The path to reassuring Adora of anything was often paved with long, hardfought attempts to convince her of any feelings she suspected were insincere. 

How many times had Catra already tried to tell Adora that she liked Bright Moon, that there were few places in all of Etheria that she _didn’t_ like now that she’d spent time there doing things other than conquering and destroying? How many more villagers would Catra have to break bread with? How many more little fairy kids and centaur kids—who kept trying to _pet_ her—would Catra have to play with? How many more times was Adora going to make her say it, before she finally believed it? 

This—all of these new, peaceful places collectively—were Catra’s home now, too. 

“Yes, Adora,” Catra huffed, “I told you, this place makes the Fright Zone look like... the Fright Zone." 

Adora chuckled, resuming her scratching behind Catra’s ears until she was purring. 

"What I mean is…” Adora bit the inside of her cheek so hard it stung. “I want to come back here. To the castle. I miss Glimmer, and Bow, and everyone. I miss everything.”

“Okay.” Catra offered casually.

“And I don’t want you to think that when it’s just me and you it’s not good enough, because it—wait, what?”

Catra pulled back to look at her. “What?”

“What did you say?”

“When?” Catra raised an eyebrow.

Adora sighed. “Just now, after I said that stuff about coming back here.”

Catra squinted. “Okay?”

“Okay?”

“Wait, are you asking me if I said okay, or saying it’s okay that I said okay. I’m confused.”

Adora shook her head, stunned. “What do you mean ‘ _okay_ ’?”

“I mean… okay as in... _okay._ I’m really not sure how else to explain it, Adora.”

Adora furrowed her brow.

“Are you okay?” Catra asked, starting to scoot back. “Should I be worried about...this?” She gestured to a frozen, dumbfounded Adora.

Adora shook herself free of her perplexed trance. “You don’t care if we move out of the cabin?”

“Not really,” Catra shrugged. "The cabin was always temporary, wasn't it? Like a vacation or whatever."

Adora could feel her chest tightening, feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes as she nodded. "I didn’t know you thought of it like that, too." 

Catra leaned in, trying to see Adora more clearly in the dark. "Are you crying?"

"No," Adora answered, starting to cry. 

Catra rolled onto her back, giving her chest a pat for Adora to lie on. Once Adora’s head was resting there, Catra wrapped her arms protectively around her shoulders.

“You gonna tell me what you’re crying about?” Catra extended her claws just a bit and started to massage Adora's scalp. "Or just keep pretending that you aren’t?"

“Keep pretending.” Adora wiped her tears away with the back of her hand.

Catra chuckled. “Seriously, Adora. What’s going on? I said we _could_ come back.”

"I know," Adora nodded, sniffling. "That's why I'm crying." 

"Ugh," Catra groaned playfully, "What have these princesses done to you?” 

Adora laughed, patting her face dry with a fistful of quilt. 

"I just didn’t think you'd want to come back here once we'd lived alone. I know you like it when it’s just us, like how it used to be back in the Fright Zone." 

"We were never _really_ alone in the Fright Zone.” 

“You know what I mean, Catra. You're always saying how you hate everyone, and I know you’re mostly joking when you say that, but still. It bothers me when I think about trying to live two lives: one out there in the woods alone with you, and one here with Glimmer and everybody. I just wanna live one, big great life with everyone in it all the time.”

“Hey, look at me for a sec.” Catra started to sit up. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like you couldn’t have both. I don’t wanna hog you, okay?”

“Okay.” Adora nodded.

“And when I say that stuff about everyone being stupid or hating people… that’s just me being me, Adora.” She sighed. "I love you. And Bow. And Glimmer. Swifty and Melog, all the princesses. Love, love, love, okay? All the love, all the time.” She held her finger up, perceiving Adora’s toothy grin even in the darkened room. "Hey! That does not mean that I want to be bothered all the time, or go to every single party, it just means I like it here too, okay? It feels like home, and I... if you’re gonna be here, then so am I.” 

Adora’s gleaming teeth floated towards her until they were kissing.

“I love you, Catra.” Adora whispered, pulling back. 

“I love you, too.” 

Adora sighed, sinking back into the pillow on her side of the bed. “Shit.”

“What now?” Catra turned to her, mildly peeved.

Adora grimaced. “We’re gonna have to ask everyone to help us move _back_ into the castle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could be the post-completion delight talking, but I'm thinking about turning this fic into a series and continuing it. It was just so easy (and fun) to write!
> 
> Thanks for the kudos, the comments, and, of course, for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story. (:

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings, Catradora fandom! I wrote and finished this little story in one go, so barring any problems—the world is a crazy place right now!—this'll be updated biweekly.


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